Stalin's Death. 1953.

Stalin's Death

Joseph
Stalin had been leader of the Soviet Union for nearly 30
years. Though he is now considered responsible for the deaths of millions
of his own people through famine and purges, when his death was announced
to the people of the Soviet Union on March 6, 1953, many wept. He
had led them to victory in World War II. He had been their leader,
the Father of the Peoples, the Supreme Commander, the Generalissimo.

Stalin and Zhukov at the Lenin mausoleum tribune

And now he was dead.

Through a succession of bulletins, the Soviet people had been made aware
that Stalin was gravely ill. At four in the morning of March 6, 1953,
it was announced: "The heart of the comrade-in-arms and continuer
of genius of Lenin's cause, of the wise leader and teacher of the Communist
Party and the Soviet Union, has ceased to beat."

Joseph
Stalin, 73 years of age, had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage
and died at 9:50 p.m. on March 5, 1953.

Stalin's body was washed by a nurse and then carried via a white car
to the Kremlin mortuary. There, an autopsy was performed. After the autopsy
was completed, Stalin's body was given to the embalmers to prepare it
for the three days it would lay-in-state.

Stalin's body was placed on temporary display in the Hall of Columns.

Thousands of people lined up in the snow to see it. The crowds were so
dense and chaotic outside that some people were trampled underfoot, others
rammed against traffic lights, and some others choked to death. It is
estimated that 500 people lost their lives while trying to get a glimpse
of Stalin's corpse.

On March 9, nine pallbearers carried the coffin from the Hall of Columns
onto a gun carriage.

The body was then ceremoniously taken to Lenin's
tomb on the Red Square in Moscow.

Only three speeches were made - one by Georgy
Malenkov, another by Lavrenty
Beria, and the third by Vyacheslav
Molotov. Then, covered in black and red silk, Stalin's coffin
was carried into the tomb. At noon, throughout the Soviet Union, came
a loud roar - whistles, bells, guns, and sirens were blown in honor of
Stalin.